Disposal of wastes and discarded materials is becoming more difficult as landfills begin to fill up, and as local, state and federal governments institute strict rules and regulations as to what can be disposed of in landfills. Such regulations are especially stringent concerning hazardous and quasi-hazardous wastes. Many regulations also require waste to be reduced in size before it is disposed of in landfills.
One such landfill regulation concerns the disposal of used fluid filters, such as used oil filters removed from construction and earthmoving vehicles. Thousands of such filters are removed from vehicles everyday, and until recently have been discarded into disposal dumpsters and ultimately dumped in landfills. New and proposed regulations require that such filters be reduced in size by crushing in some manner before being disposed of.
Several different types of crushing apparatus have been proposed, and a few prototypes have been built and utilized with varying degrees of success. However, most of the previously utilized crushing apparatus failed to provide all of the desired features of speed, efficiency, and safety.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.